The present invention is directed to apparatus for suspending articles above a surface, such as the kinds of apparatus which are used to suspend hanging toys above an infant. Such apparatus may be free standing, on some form of tripod or quadrupedal arrangement, or may be configured to suspend from a support above the infant's location, such as from a ceiling, or from a cantilevered, or overarching support, such as may be attached to one or both of the sides of a crib.
Prior art infant toy suspension apparatus, such as are represented by Yokohori, U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,549; Block, U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,588; and Bro, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,520, typically comprise a tubular support, which may be articulated, and from which one or more toy articles are suspended, as by fabric or plastic straps. The toy articles typically are fabricated from a plastic or other non-toxic material, in a variety of shapes and colors, so as to be visually pleasing and interesting to the infant, and are further typically fabricated in such a manner as to withstand use by the infant as a teething article, without harm to the infant, or significant damage to the toy article. The toy articles are typically suspended so as to just be within, or perhaps even slightly beyond the easy reach of the infant, when the infant is placed on a floor surface, or within a child's seat, beneath the suspended toy articles, so as to encourage a limited amount of physical activity in the infant as the infant plays with the toy articles.
In addition, the toy articles may be hollow and filled with a granular substance, or have bell apparatus mounted therewithin, so as to provide some audible stimulation to the infant, when the infant touches the suspended toy articles.
While such toy articles may have a beneficial effect in that they provide some limited stimulation and amusement to the infant, there remains the possibility that the infant may become bored and/or restive due in part to the feedback to their activity being the mere motion of the toy articles or repetitive sounds produced thereby. While electronic learning aid devices have been developed and are marketed to infants and young pre-school children which devices provide audible outputs in response to pressing buttons, moving levers, during dials and the like, where such outputs take the form of human speech or musical sounds familiar or understandable to the user, such devices are typically inappropriate for very young infants given that they typically lack the coordination and dexterity required to manipulate buttons, levers and dials and thus can not make full use of such devices until the later stages of infancy, or later.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an infant's suspended toy which is capable of providing greater stimulus to the young infant, so as to encourage greater use and activity from the infant.
It would be further desirable to provide an infant's suspended toy apparatus which both entertainment and educational value which can be delivered to the infant during use.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification, claims and drawings.